793.94/12482
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
I called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs at his official residence at 9 o’clock this morning and presented a formal note concerning the looting of American property by Japanese forces in China,38d reviewing the reports of depredations, and containing the substance of the final paragraph of the Department’s no. 33, February 2, 5 p.m.39
Having received from the Department no comment on my supplementary oral representations made to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on January 17 (our 34, January 17, 1 p.m.) I assume that they were approved and I therefore took an equally strong attitude in my talk with the Minister today. I told him that the data which I was now presenting in our note effectually disproved the reports which had come to me from Japanese sources that we were depending upon Chinese informants for our information and I said that we were now giving certain precise dates on which looting had been observed by American citizens. I spoke of the steadily mounting evidence of Japanese depredations which was coming before the American public; that the inflammable effect of this evidence should not be overlooked or minimized and that the patience of the American people was not inexhaustible. I said to the Minister once again in strong terms that I was becoming increasingly disturbed at the situation and the future outlook for Japanese-American relations. I asked the Minister for a precise statement which I might convey to my Government in reply to its assumptions and expectations of assurances.
The Minister said that the strictest possible instructions had gone out from General Headquarters to be handed down to all commanding officers in China to the effect that these depredations must cease and that Major General Homma had been sent to Nanking to investigate and to ensure compliance. The Minister said that he confidently expects the immediate cessation of such looting. He furthermore authorized me to inform you that in the light of the investigations now being carried out full indemnification will be made for losses and damages inflicted.
With regard to reports of the desecration of the American flag the Minister said that the Japanese authorities had as yet been unable to confirm these reports.